Last year, I read 100 books! This was in the middle of a crazy year where so much was happening and there were times I felt as though I didn’t read much at all.
As it’s the start of a new year, many people set a New Years resolution to ‘read more books’, so it’s a good time to share how I read 100 books in the midst of the craziness of life.
I use GoodReads to keep track of the number of books I’ve read during the year, using the GoodReads challenge.
- Count everything – I counted every book I read, no matter what style, genre or format.
- Audiobooks – 2022 brought back face to face workshops, so every couple of weeks I would be driving a 4 hour round trip to run writing workshops. Instead of listening to the radio, the Borrow Box app was my friend. I would download some audiobooks to listen to on my drive.
- Picture books – I am a picture book author, and I collect picture books. I made sure to count all of them.
- Add books to GoodReads – not every book I’d read was on GoodReads, and if it wasn’t there, I would add it so it could be counted.
- Variety of lengths – last year, I read picture books with their 32 pages, as well as novels with over 600 pages. This meant that I could enjoy some shorter books at times when life was a bit more hectic, and then longer books when things quietened down.
- More than one at a time – I often read more than one book at a time, this could be reading a novel and listening to an audiobook. I know not everyone can do this, and if this is you, ignore this tip.
- Carry books with me – I often carry books with me to read in waiting rooms or anywhere I’m going to be waiting for a little while. This meant that I could read in stolen pockets of time.
- Read books you enjoy – many years ago, I decided to find books that appeal to me, that I think I’ll enjoy. This enticed me to read more, rather than trying to battle my way through books I wasn’t enjoying. This helped me read more books.
As with anything, often quality is better than quantity, so even if your ‘read more books’ goal is to read one book a month, some of these tips may help with your reading goals.
Whatever your reading goals are for 2023, I hope you find some amazing books to read.
